12-Blogging the Old Testament. Lecture Three: The Fall

Part Twelve begins.

Last time in Lecture Three, Part Eleven, we briefly commented on the serpent’s deceit. We’’ll briefly look at the results—total depravity—and the beginning of Christ’s Church in the Garden.

We turn to Genesis 3.6-13.

ו וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל וְכִי תַאֲוָה-הוּא לָעֵינַיִם, וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל, וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ, וַתֹּאכַל; וַתִּתֵּן גַּם-לְאִישָׁהּ עִמָּהּ, וַיֹּאכַל.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

ז וַתִּפָּקַחְנָה, עֵינֵי שְׁנֵיהֶם, וַיֵּדְעוּ, כִּי עֵירֻמִּם הֵם; וַיִּתְפְּרוּ עֲלֵה תְאֵנָה, וַיַּעֲשׂוּ לָהֶם חֲגֹרֹת.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles.

ח וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ אֶת-קוֹל יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, מִתְהַלֵּךְ בַּגָּן--לְרוּחַ הַיּוֹם; וַיִּתְחַבֵּא הָאָדָם וְאִשְׁתּוֹ, מִפְּנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, בְּתוֹךְ, עֵץ הַגָּן.

8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden toward the cool of the day; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

ט וַיִּקְרָא יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, אֶל-הָאָדָם; וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ, אַיֶּכָּה.

9 And the LORD God called unto the man, and said unto him: 'Where art thou?'

י וַיֹּאמֶר, אֶת-קֹלְךָ שָׁמַעְתִּי בַּגָּן; וָאִירָא כִּי-עֵירֹם אָנֹכִי, וָאֵחָבֵא.

10 And he said: 'I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.'

יא וַיֹּאמֶר--מִי הִגִּיד לְךָ, כִּי עֵירֹם אָתָּה; הֲמִן-הָעֵץ, אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִיךָ לְבִלְתִּי אֲכָל-מִמֶּנּוּ--אָכָלְתָּ.

11 And He said: 'Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?'

יב וַיֹּאמֶר, הָאָדָם: הָאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּה עִמָּדִי, הִוא נָתְנָה-לִּי מִן-הָעֵץ וָאֹכֵל.

12 And the man said: 'The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.'

יג וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים לָאִשָּׁה, מַה-זֹּאת עָשִׂית; וַתֹּאמֶר, הָאִשָּׁה, הַנָּחָשׁ הִשִּׁיאַנִי, וָאֹכֵל.

13 And the LORD God said unto the woman: 'What is this thou hast done?' And the woman said: 'The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.'

In Genesis 3.6.-7, the woman saw that the fruit was good, pleasant to the eyes. She took and ate. Adam took and ate. Then, the eyes of both were opened. Suddenly they knew good and evil. But did they escape God and His sovereignty? There was and is no escape from that. They saw their shame. They became aware of sin and aware of nakedness. They knew they were bankrupt and impoverished. They fled from God, as if that was going to work. They were fugitives.

Let’s pause for a moment and consider this. They had been made in God’s image. They were made to delight in and love God. Their instincts were turned and twisted. They ought to have run to God and to have hid in him as their delight, joy, sufficiency, and refuge. God was their Covering and Glory. They had been basking in that glory. They had been talking to God with unbroken communion, friendship, intimacy, joy and delight. They had had that same communion with one another, as a man and wife. They had minds, feelings and wills and were mirrors of the mind and glory of God, creatures to do the divine bidding and pleasure.

But the contrast is evident in this section. Something happens to them. Their personhood is impacted. There is a barrier, chasm and wall between God and them. Now, they run for their lives. They are paralyzed emotionally. They are intellectually compromised. Their feelings were corrupted.

The story takes a turn, however, and we see the God of grace and glory.

The story becomes and is a story about God. The story is of God who seeks and saves His people.

They had been the people of God --> They became a non-people of God of sorts.

They had been friends of God --> They became enemies of God.

They had freedom of will --> Now, they exhibit a bondage of the will.

They had intellectual and mental integrity --> They became liars.

They had delight in God --> They now exhibit fear and dread of God.

They had uninhibited openness --> Now, they seek the bushes and are ashamed of their nakedness. They (and we) are rightly to be called “fugitive bush-whackers” by birth, imputation of Adamic guilt and corruption by transmission (traducianism).

They had been living lawful lives --> Now, they are law-breakers.

“The man, whom God had appointed lord of the earth and its inhabitants, was endowed with everything requisite for the development of his nature and fulfillment of his destiny.”[1] But their opposition to God’s law was specific, bringing guilt and pollution to themselves and their offspring. They were judged by their Creator. It is to be noted that sin does not consist exclusively in overt acts, but has it’s origin in the mind, heart and will.

From a biblical standpoint, God is not the author of sin. The origin of sin was with a “perfectly voluntary act on the part of man.”[2] It carried permanent pollution and guilt through the rest of history. Romans 5.18-19, So then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through the one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justification of life. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous.

The results were the total depravity of human nature, leaving nothing untouched, body and soul.
We offer these few texts, although there is more.

Genesis 6.5: The the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Psalm 14.3, They have all turned aside; they have together become corrupt; there is none good, no, not one.

Romans 8.18, For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh),nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

But, from Moses’ standpoint, God seeks His people, His fallen creatures. He stoops to seek them, to cover them, and restore them to fellowship. God established a gracious relationship and covenant with Adam and Eve. Calvin, in addressing those who attack the credibility of Genesis, calls us to remember that “Moses, therefore, has established the credibility of that doctrine which is contained in his writings, and which, by the carelessness of men, might otherwise have been lost.”[3] Calvin reminds us that puerile objectors, the captious, the unredeemed, those found in the first Adam, the unjustified, in denying these doctrines and teachings of Moses (liberal theologians), are well suited for hell.

In light of our own observations about the fall of humanity, we see the twistedness of reason, heart and mind in the modern liberalism movement; they cannot think aright.

The story is not so much about Adam, Eve, and their progeny, though it is that; the storyline, however, is about God seeking the lost.

The rest of Genesis, the Bible and history is about God reaching out, covering their guilt, restoring them as image-bearers (mind, feelings, and will), and “pulling them out of the bushes” to be His people. As such, as believers, it is our story of Christ saving us and joining us to His Church of the centuries.

Genesis is about the beginning of the Church. As Calvin says so well, “Therefore, the perpetual succession of the Church has flowed from this fountain, that the holy Fathers, one after another, having by faith embraced the offered promise, were collected together into the family of God, in order that they might have a common life in Christ. This we ought carefully to notice, that we may know what is the society of the true Church, and what the communion of faith among the children of God. Whereas Moses was ordained the Teacher of the Israelites, there is no doubt that he had an especial reference to them, in order that they might acknowledge themselves to be a people elected and chosen by God; and that they might seek the certainty of this adoption from the Covenant which the Lord had ratified with their fathers, and might know that there was no other God, and no other right faith.”[4]

To be continued, Lord willing.

Part Twelve ends.

[1] C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch. Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes, Vol.1: The Pentateuch. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978), 91.
[2] Louis Berkhof. Systematic Theology, 4th edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977), 221.
[3] John Calvin. Commentary on Genesis. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom01.txt accessed 21 August 2009.
[4] John Calvin. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom01.txt. Accessed 19 August 2009. God willing, we intend to re-read Calvin’s Commentaries in connection with this series. He is perhaps--but probably--the best commentator on Scripture known since the Apostle Paul.